Miscellaneous Information

Dashboard Type (GTA V)

Interior Type

Traffic-default Color(s)

Default Wheel Type (GTA V)

Sport

Model Name(s)

shamal

Handling Name(s)

SHAMAL

Text Label Name(s)

SHAMAL

Population Information

Spawns Naturally?

• ­Yes (GTA V)

• ­Parked (GTA SA)

"The Shamal is a mid-size business jet known for its climb and cruise performance, balanced handling and economical fuel consumption. At current gas prices, you can fly a Shamal coast to coast for just $50,000, without even a second thought for the Ozone layer."

Contents

Design

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

The aircraft model is based on the Learjet 55. The aircraft nose is considerably longer than most Learjets, also resembling a later model. It has a light grey paint job.

The Shamal's interior can be seen during Freefall. The size of the interior appears larger than usual for an aircraft with a relatively small fuselage, and the interior incongruously features 16 windows (9 on the left and 7 on the right) when the plane features only 8 outside.

Grand Theft Auto V

The Shamal appeared in the first trailer and later in one of the screenshots for Grand Theft Auto V, implying that it would most likely return as a functional plane. This was confirmed by the gameplay trailer, that showed the Shamal being flown over the Land Act Dam.

The Shamal is based on the Learjet 45, Embraer ERJ 145, and Cessna CitationJet, especially around the cockpit, although the Citation is much to short. and has 16 passenger windows in total (8 on each side). The role of the aircraft is now different though — instead of being a business jet, like in GTA San Andreas, it is now a commuter jet, being owned by multiple airliners for short regional flights. The role of a private jet is now attributed to the Luxor, a plane very similar to the Shamal (only with a black paint scheme and a slightly different pitch of engine sound) also manufactured by Buckingham.

The Shamal has one window on either side that are marked with red outlines, indicating the cut-out zone in event of emergency.

When converted into a personal aircraft, the player is only able to change the plane’s livery, the primary color cannot be changed, which is only available in an Ice White color.

Current Design Gallery

Version History Gallery

Performance

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

The Shamal is available to the player at the beginning of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, in Los Santos International Airport, acquirable by trespassing over the security booth if the player still hasn't got the pilot's licence. It is a considerably fast jet, being on par with the Rustler, and due to its availability, the Shamal is a good choice for players who are just learning to fly jets, as its handling is balanced and it's easy to land on runways. Also, despite it visually having a large passenger capacity, it can transport only the player. The Shamal is somewhat decently agile in terms of maneuverability, and its availability to the player early in the game provides an easy way to grind their Flying Skill stat before even reaching Verdant Meadows Airfield much later in the storyline.

Grand Theft Auto V

The Shamal is now a much faster aircraft, beating any propeller-powered plane in the game and being on-par with the Luxor as the fifth fastest aircraft in the game, beaten by the Vestra, the Besra, P-996 LAZER and the Hydra. Similar to San Andreas, it is also available from the start in Los Santos International Airport and, due to having a great and responsive handling, it remains as a great plane for learning to pilot and similar to the Luxor, players can easily evade police attention if they didn't purchase a hangar yet. In the hands of a moderately skilled pilot, it can easily win any multiplayer races. Thanks to the speed and handling of the aircraft, it also has a great capability for performing stunts, being able to steer and perform aileron rolls extremely fast.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, a jet also similar to the one featured in Liberty City Stories but with a considerably larger fuselage and wing span, decorated with blue stripes, appears in multiple missions. It is first seen in the introductory mission, Soldier, as belonging to the dealer Victor Vance meets. It is later seen parked in Escobar International during Snitch Hitch and ends up being escorted out of the airport by Vance while it takes off in Farewell to Arms.

Grand Theft Auto V

In Grand Theft Auto V, the Shamal was finally obtainable again, but it isn't the only business jet present in the game: the Luxor (and Deluxe), the Vestra and the Miljet are three other available private jets. The Luxor can be considered the Shamal's "sister plane" as it is almost identical, with only the paint job and some interior features changing. There was also supposed to be another business jet, but it was probably scrapped early in development.

During the mission Freefall, a Shamal flies to Las Venturas and CJ is supposed to hijack it with a Dodo, eliminate the strike team, take control of the plane, and land the plane at Las Venturas Airport. It can be kept after the mission.

Grand Theft Auto V

One parked next to a Luxor in the southeast corner, where a Jet usually parks.

Two parked north to the two runways, facing the buildings, west to Devin Weston's hangar.

One (AI-controlled) will often land on the third runway (northward), and park next to a Luxor near the two Jets, west from the two mentioned above.

One (AI-controlled) may appear on the tarmac and will park in front of Michael's hangar. Sometimes it will be a Luxor instead.

One (AI-controlled) can frequently spawn flying mid-air above Palomino Highlands when flying over the area, however, it can not be hijacked. This is quite rare due to Shamals never really seen flying anywhere else around the map, other than landing on the North-West runway of LSIA.

Grand Theft Auto Online

On rare occasions NPCs can be seen landing at the airport, it is unknown whether this is a glitch or not.

Trivia

General

In Arabic, Shamal means "North", however it is pronounced "Shemal", not "Shamal". This may possibly be a play on the word shemale, which is slang for a transsexual woman.

The pictures found in Max Payne 3.

Pictures of the Shamal, amongst other planes, can be seen in the Max Payne 3 multiplayer map Tiete River Docks. Interestingly, the said game was released by Rockstar in 2012, a year before Grand Theft Auto V.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto IV

The Shamal can be seen on the TV show, I'm Rich, in GTA IV, possibly suggesting that it was cut from the game.

It is notable that the Shamal featured in the show was colored gold.

Grand Theft Auto V

In Grand Theft Auto V, the Shamal and the Luxor cannot be bought on the Internet as Trevor, because Trevor's hangar does not fit these jets.

In Grand Theft Auto V, despite the plane being able to sit 10 people including the pilot in Online mode, it cannot sit more than 2 people in singleplayer. If one reunites all three protagonists and enters a Shamal, one of the two will sit next to the player and the third will stand out of the plane.

Shamals landing at LSIA are more prone than Luxor's to become very erratic when landing, even in non-turbulent conditions, showing they each have different scripts for landing.

It is possible to turn a Shamal into a VTOL in GTA V. If the nose is placed inside the bucket of a Dozer, then lifted up, the plane would be facing upwards. When the player gets in (very awkwardly), accelerating can cause the plane to get a random speed boost into the air. This doesn't always work, but it can be done without a speed boost, albeit difficult.

In Grand Theft Auto V (enhanced version), the fan blades of the Shamel's engines spin which makes it one of the few planes to have this feature along with the cargo plane. The fan blades don't spin on the Luxor or Jet which remains stationary like the original version.

The Shamal's real life counterpart is revealed in the files for the audio of Caida Libre, where it is named "lear_jet".[1]